TAG: Time to Change

This week Anne, Rachel and John are joined by two special guests to discuss the politics of mental health. What are the main initiatives in mental health policy? What do the different political parties have to say? Are there even any meaningful differences between them? And does the recent Mental Health Act Review move us forward? To help us think though these questions we had some help from Akiko Hart and Mark Brown, two people far more involved in political conversations than we are. We also have an interview with our colleague, child psychologist Trish Joscelyne, who takes us through the changing landscape of children’s mental health.

The Time to Change campaign is the biggest mental health stigma busting campaign in the UK, receiving an estimated £21 million between 2007 and 2011. Given this level of investment I would hope it made significant differences to stigma surrounding mental health problems. The truth is that it hasn’t, and in some areas of stigma, prejudice has increased.

It’s a sobering thought that, for many people who use mental health services, other people’s reactions cause more distress than their original problems. And attitudes may even be getting worse. A recent report from the Department of Health found that whereas in 1997, 92% of people questioned agreed that ‘we need to adopt a more tolerant attitude towards people with mental illness’, in 2011 only 86% thought that we need to be more tolerant. Worryingly, young people appeared to be the most prejudiced.